United Federation Marine Corps
The United Federation Marine Corps (UFMC), formerly the Fur-Human Federation Marine Corps (FHFMC), is the United Federations primary military branch for active combat operations, peacekeeping efforts, and emergency disaster response. The UFMC is heavily based off of the former United States Marine Corps, with uniform and training protocols remaining nearly identical for planetary operations. The UFMC is one of the three military branches of the Federation, alongside the UF Navy and UF Self-Defense Force. History Shortly after the formation of the Fur-Human Federation, the topic of military capacity became a Federation wide debate. Many province governments, and even countries that had not yet signed the Unification Accords, agreed that the United States, flagship country of the Federation, should be the basis and inspiration for the FHF military. After numerous conventions at the United Nations and the newly established Federation Headquarters, it was determined that the US would be the basing point for the Federation military, and that the militaries of each country would adopt it's training regimen and operations. Due to the language barriers, most military outposts in foreign countries underwent training to adopt the English language, although they were authorized to carry on their operations with their current language. The FHFMC was accompanied for a short period by the Fur-Human Federation Army, due to the wide number of militaries not having a formal Marine Corps branch, or anything similar. The Federation deemed this to be a conflict, due to the Army and Marine Corps having the same objective: To deploy to any area within Federation controlled space and defend the citizens, property, and liberty of that area. After formal debate, including heated exchanges between Marine Corps and Army flag officers, the Federation announced that the Army would be merged into the Marine Corps, due to the close partnership between Federation ground forces, and the Navy, as well as the fact that the Navy was the primary transportation branch for all activities off-planet. In 2019, the FHFMC was actively engaged on an operation on Io, where an assault using limited staffing was attempted to identify and halt the manufacturing of heavy weapons by NANHI. However, the operation failed due to the large volume of automated mechs and defensive weaponry, and a full scale invasion was not possible to the presence of anti-starship technology orbiting Io and Jupiter. A retreat was sounded for the remaining troops, and the Federation began reevaluating the threat of NANHI's operations. The Marine Corps regularly assisted Navy personnel in various operations, including a NANHI assault on Electric City and on the American province. The Marine Corps also led a major assault on NANHI's headquarters in Jupiter, deploying a wide range of forces and overwhelming NANHI alongside the Navy, forcing them to surrender. The Federation formally accepted NANHI's surrender, and began the process of taking over Jupiter and stabilizing the poor terraforming conditions of the planet, greatly improving living conditions. It was also during this checkpoint in the Federation's history that it was renamed the United Federation. Initial Entry and Training Entry into the Marine Corps is started by visiting one of the numerous recruiting stations, located in nearly all major cities in the Federation. Applicants would sign applications, waivers, and be subject to a background check, before their application was submitted for further processing. Applicants to the Marine Corps would then be sent to their local Military Entrance Processing Station (MEPS) for testing, medical and psychological examination, and job placement. Upon completion of this stage, applicants are sworn in, and become pending recruits while awaiting a ship out date. Training Pending recruits are sent to a variety of training stations throughout the Federation. The first training bases for the UFMC are MCRD San Diego, Camp Pendleton, and MCRD Parris Island, the basic training sites for the former US Marine Corps. Basic training consists of intense physical exercise, mental fitness training, weapons proficiency courses, combat scenarios, vehicle operations training, and political schooling. The basic training period is 3 months. After graduation, recruits become marines, and are then assigned to a position and planetary station. Recruits that are assigned to combat operations that could require interstellar travel, or deployment to deep space, would undergo a six-month training period at the Interstellar Operations Training Facility on Luna, and upon graduation, would be assigned about a troop carrier ship to deploy. Uniforms The UFMC utilizes a moderate number of uniforms for the day to day operations. Marine Corps combat uniforms utilize the American MARPAT camouflage pattern, although the color schemes for the uniforms depend on the area of operations. For instance, in desert locations, the color scheme is brown, tan, and sand, whereas the camouflage is white, grey, and light blue for arctic conditions. Combat Utility Uniform The combat uniform for the UFMC is the standard uniform worn by all members working in a day to day basis. The uniform consists of an undershirt, jacket blouse, cargo pants, boots, and an 8 point patrol cap. The UFMC wears their nametapes on the blouse over the right breast, a patch bearing "UF MARINES" on the left, and the insignia of the UFMC over the right side of the stomach. Rank identifiers are worn on the collar of the blouse. This uniform comes in a wide variety of color schemes, including arctic, desert, starship (a light/dark gray based camo), and woodlands (green camo). This uniform can also be paired with a wide range of combat equipment, including body armor, front load carriers, assault packs, and holsters. Dress Service Uniform The DSU, or dress blues, is the Class A service uniform of the UFMC. It consists of a white dress shirt and blake tie, black dress jacket with gold buttons, and royal blue slacks with red trim. The uniform is also accompanied by a white belt and cap. Rank identifiers are worn on the upper arm sleeves (enlisted ranks) or on shoulderboards (officers). Name tags are worn on the right breast, and commendation ribbons are worn on the left.